Aging and the cholinergic system on attention and timing

衰老和胆碱能系统对注意力和计时的影响

• 批准号: 6843739
• 负责人: Kevin C.H. Pang
• 金额: $ 20.43万
• 依托单位: BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-02-15 至 2008-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6843739
• 关键词: Aging; cholinergic; system; attention; timing

EXCEED THE SPACE PROVIDED. The elderly tend to be afflicted with impairments of several cognitive processes, including a decreased ability to pay attention, perform multiple tasks, and to time short intervals. Some models suggest a close interaction of timing and attention. The proposed studies hypothesize that attention and timing involve similar brain regions, in particular motor areas in the frontal lobe. In addition, it is predicted that dysfunction of the frontal motor areas is responsible for the age-related impairments in attention and timing. This dysfunction is due, in part, to the loss of cholinergic neurons of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM). The proposed studies do the following: 1) examine the effects of damage to motor cortex and NBM projections to motor cortex on attention and time estimation, 2) compare age-related changes of attention and timing in rats and humans, 3) examine the relationship between age-related loss of NBM neurons and impairments in attention and timing, and 4) investigate the effects of aging and brain damage on attention-related neuronal activity in motor cortex. The proposed behavioral studies with rats and humans involve similar versions of a simultaneous temporal processing (STP) task. In the STP task, subjects' learn to associate auditory and visual cues with short and long fixed time intervals, and are then tested on their ability to produce/estimate this time interval under different attentional demands. In a focused attention condition, only one cue is presented to subjects. In a divided attention condition, both cues are presented and must be attended to in order to respond correctly. The focused attention condition serves as a baseline measure of performance. The central empirical question concerns how aging and lesions (in rats) affect timing performance in divided attention conditions, relative to focused attention conditions. Model fits using scalar-expectance theory facilitate comparison between the human and rat behavioral data and potentially provide a functinoal interpretation of the effects of aging and lesions on focused and divided attention. Overall, the studies in this proposal will enhance our knowledge of the brain systems participating in attention and timing. Importantly, new information will be revealed that will elucidate the neural mechanisms responsible for age-related impairments in attention and timing. This new knowledge will provide directions for the development of treatments. PERFORMANCE SITE ========================================Section End===========================================

超出所提供的空间。老年人往往会受到多种认知过程障碍的困扰，包括注意力、执行多项任务和缩短时间间隔的能力下降。一些模型表明时间和注意力之间存在密切的相互作用。拟议的研究假设注意力和时间安排涉及相似的大脑区域，特别是额叶的运动区域。此外，据预测，额叶运动区的功能障碍是造成与年龄相关的注意力和时间安排障碍的原因。这种功能障碍部分是由于大细胞基底核（NBM）胆碱能神经元的丧失所致。拟议的研究做了以下工作：1）检查运动皮层损伤和 NBM 对运动皮层的预测对注意力和时间估计的影响，2）比较大鼠和人类与年龄相关的注意力和计时变化，3）检查与年龄相关的 NBM 神经元损失与注意力和计时损伤之间的关系，4）研究衰老和脑损伤对运动皮层注意力相关神经元活动的影响。拟议的大鼠和人类行为研究涉及类似版本的同时时间处理（STP）任务。在STP任务中，受试者学习将听觉和视觉线索与短和长的固定时间间隔相关联，然后测试他们在不同注意力需求下产生/估计该时间间隔的能力。在注意力集中的情况下，只向受试者提供一个提示。在注意力分散的情况下，两种提示都会出现，并且必须注意才能做出正确反应。注意力集中状况作为绩效的基准衡量标准。中心实证问题涉及相对于集中注意力条件而言，衰老和损伤（在大鼠中）如何影响分散注意力条件下的时间表现。使用标量期望理论的模型拟合有助于人类和大鼠行为数据之间的比较，并可能提供衰老和病变对集中注意力和分散注意力的影响的功能解释。总体而言，本提案中的研究将增强我们对参与注意力和计时的大脑系统的了解。重要的是，我们将揭示新的信息，阐明导致与年龄相关的注意力和时间安排障碍的神经机制。这些新知识将为治疗方法的开发提供方向。表演网站==========================================章节结束===============================================